After The Goodbye
by peaceluvharmony
Summary: Fred and Lizzie have now gone their separate ways, but is this what fate intended?
1. Prologue

_**Chapter 1**_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters_**

_**Prologue (Just after Fred was imprisoned in the Jack-in-the-box)**_

For Fred, everything was surreal in that moment.  
>He could hear Lizzie's cries but there was nothing he could do.<br>He was trapped.

The 21 years felt like forever, yet he never aged. This was surprisingly true, Fred didn't know exactly why, but he seemed to be suspended in some sort of imaginary friend 'limbo'.


	2. The Plan

_**Chapter 2**_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters_**

_**~Now~**_

_**(Takes place right where the movie left off)**_

"_Give him my love? Who is this woman?_" Fred thought to himself as he started at the lady in front of him, with her short bob of hair and huge brown eyes.

"Elizabeth!_" _ Mickey Fartpants called out, and the mystery woman walked over in his direction.

Something about her seemed familiar to Fred, but he couldn't quite place it. Besides, what did it matter? He was with Natalie now and that was all that mattered.

But something inside Fred wouldn't rest; as he sat awake the rest of the night wondering how he could possibly know this "Lizzie".

The following morning, Fred awoke with a start, not even realising he had fallen asleep.

He looked over at Nat still asleep, and was about to wake her up when he realised there was going to be another babysitter over today, and he hadn't even thought up a prank.

Quickly, he racked his brain for something, anything, they could pull on the unsuspecting woman.

"_Snare? No, we did that with the last one."_

"_Water balloon attack? No, too original"_

"_Harpoon through the-" _No. He stopped himself on that one

"_Mud pie? Perfect!" _Fred thought as he smiled deviously.

He gently shook Natalie awake, grinning as a plan started to develop in his mind…


	3. Recognising

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters**_

"Nat, Nat wake up!_"_, Fred yelled.

"What is it Fred?", she yawned, as she stretched her arms and swung her legs out from under the covers.

"I came up with a way we can get rid of babysitters forever!_",_ cheered Fred. "We will just need a few things first…"

* * *

><p>The babysitter arrived an hour later, just catching Mickey on his way to work. As soon as Mickey was gone, she went straight to the couch (after rudely introducing herself as Helena) and lay down, dozing off soon after.<p>

Fred rummaged through the fridge until he found what he was looking for.

As this was the babysitter's first day, Mickey thought it would be nice to have a meal prepared for her in the fridge.

Fred pulled out the dish and, with Natalie's help, emptied the contents out all over the back garden.

Fred then proceeded to search for the most important ingredient; mud.

"What else do we need?", Natalie questioned Fred after he had dumped the mud messily into the dish.

"Anything you like, check the fridge", Fred responded, and couldn't help but snigger as Natalie staggered back towards him with a mountain of various food items in her tiny arms, from tomato sauce to milk.

"Great job Nat, now we just need to mix everything together", he said as Natalie poured a whole carton of milk over the mud.

After everything was ready, they covered the dish back up and put it back into the fridge. Soon after, Helena woke, and Natalie, remembering what her Dad told her, informed the babysitter that there was pre-made lunch in the fridge.

"It's lasagne", Natalie told Helena sweetly.

As Helena lifted the lid, she was caught off guard by a gush of the mud pie that spurted out.

"Aaahhhh! What is THAT?!", she cried, furiously wiping mud from her face. She faced Natalie just in time to see her talking to the air beside her.

"Who are you talking to?", she asked her.

"Fred", Natalie responded matter-of-factly. "And he told me to tell you that we don't like ugly babysitters like you, so why don't you just 'piss off'".

Shocked at the little girl's harsh words and trauma she just experienced, she picked up the phone and called Mickey immediately.

"Your daughter is a rotten child. Come home this instant because I cannot deal with this harassment any longer."

Mickey sighed. _"What has she done this time"_, he thought to himself. He was about to leave when his boss stopped him at the exit.

"Where do you think you're going?", he said down to him.

Mickey tried to explain himself but his boss would hear none of it.

"If you walk out that door now, don't ever bother coming back. This has been happening too many times and this is the final straw."

Mickey knew he couldn't leave, but he couldn't leave Nat alone either. He had no other option, so he got his phone out and dialled.

* * *

><p>About 20 minutes later, Fred and Natalie heard a knock on the door. Helena stormed over to open it, and was greeted by a young woman with brown hair.<p>

"Lizzie!", Natalie cried, running over and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"What seems to be the problem?", Lizzie asked, walking inside, but only received a slam of the door in response, and heard a car take off.

"Well, that takes care of her", Lizzie exclaimed. "You can tell me what happened sweetie, I won't be angry", she told Natalie.

"Well I'm sick of babysitters, and Fred and I were just-", she stopped mid-sentence.

Natalie was looking at Fred as he frantically waved his arms trying to get her to stop talking. Quietly Nat said, "we made a mud pie".

Lizzie was in shock. "Drop Dead Fred", she said under her breath.

"Pardon?", Natalie asked her.

"Oh, uh, I just said that sounds like fun", Lizzie nervously replied.

But Fred heard her loud and clear, and finally it clicked. He knew who she was, and strangest of all she remembered him.

"Snotface", Fred whispered


	4. So Many Questions

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters**_

Fred couldn't believe this was Lizzie standing in front of him. HIS Lizzie. He couldn't believe she still remembered. That wasn't normal of Imaginary Friend charges. Once they said goodbye that was supposed to be it, for both of them. He sighed. Had she always been this pretty?

"_Wait what?!"_, Fred shook his head violently as if to abolish the thought. _"Where was this coming from?"_

Natalie shaking his shoulders and calling his name brought him out of his trace. "Fred, Fred!"

"What?", he said, realising it had come out a little harsh. Luckily, she didn't seem to have noticed.

"You were like a statue", Natalie replied, mimicking Fred by standing still with her arms by her side and her eyes wide.

"Where's Lizzie?", he asked her.

"She's in the kitchen making some proper lunch", Nat told him. "I think sandwiches"

"I'll be right back", Fred told Natalie, and he began walking towards the kitchen when Natalie called out to him.

"Do you know her?"

"Know who?"

"Lizzie."

Fred sighed. "Yes. I was her imaginary friend, her best friend, before I came to you."

"Do you miss her?"

He sighed again. "Yes", he said softly.

"Well, just tell her", she told him.

"It's not that easy Nat. You see, I'm not her imaginary friend anymore, so she can't see or hear me. I can't talk to her."

"I'll tell her then", and before Fred could say anything Natalie ran off to the kitchen.

"Natalie wait!", he called to her, but when he got to the kitchen she was already talking to Lizzie.

"I have to tell you something important", Natalie was telling Lizzie, "It's very secret."

"_Oh hell"_, Fred thought to himself.

"Just tell her I said hi"

"Fred says hi and that he misses you", Natalie told Lizzie.

"Natalie! What did I tell you?", Fred shouted.

Lizzie turned to Natalie, stunned. "What?"

"Fred told me he used to be your friend. Is that true?"

"Well, yes it is. Did he really say he missed me?"

"Yes, but I wasn't supposed to tell you"

"Well, you can go on ahead and tell him that I miss him too", she said, her heart fluttering.

Natalie didn't need to tell him though because he already heard. And he couldn't believe it.

"_She actually missed him? What did that mean?"_, he asked himself.

He was going to say something else when there was a knock on the door. Lizzie went to answer it, and when she returned to the kitchen Mickey was following her.

"I thought you didn't normally get home till 5", she asked him, but as she said this she glanced at the clock and realised that is was in fact 5 o'clock.

"Wow time went fast. I'm sorry we didn't get to eat the sandwiches"

"That's okay", Mickey replied, "We can have them for dinner if Nat's ok with that"

"Yeah!", Nat said, jumping in the air.

"Well that settles it then, sandwiches for dinner", said Mickey. "Do you want to stay for dinner Lizzie?"

"I'd love to but I have to get home. Plus I'm on a diet at the moment so…"

"_A diet!"_, Fred thought as he looked at Lizzie, _"You don't need to be on a diet."_

As if to contradict Fred entirely, Mickey said, "Yeah, I can see why you would be on a diet."

"_How dare you say that to her"_, Fred thought, _"She looks great."_

"Yeah, well, I'm going to head off", Lizzie said, ignoring Mickey's comment, "I had a great time looking after Natalie."

She gave Nat a quick hug, and she was gone.


	5. Dreaming

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters**_

_**Thanks to the amazing Zombierose3 who has been a great help to me while writing the story so far :D**_

_**Lizzie's POV**_

"Wow", she breathed as soon as she got inside her apartment and closed the door. She couldn't believe that Fred was still around, let alone that he missed her. FRED missed HER.

"Fred misses me", she said aloud to herself, trying to help it sink in.

She slid down the wall, put her head in her hands and sighed. She didn't know how long she sat there before she fell asleep, but when she opened her eyes it was 10:00pm.

"Better get to bed", she yawned and trudged into the bedroom.

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and was thrown into a restless sleep, where she dreamt she was back in the dollhouse with Fred before she lost him forever.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Fred's POV<strong>_

After Lizzie left, he sat in the lounge room while Nat ate her sandwiches, then followed her upstairs as she got ready for bed.

"Fred, why are you being so quiet?", she asked him.

"I'm not being quiet, I'm just ignoring you. I saw you give Lizzie a hug and you know what I think about love", he shouted, sounding disgusted, and then pretended to throw up.

But Fred knew he was being quiet, and that definitely wasn't the reason. He was still in shock from seeing Lizzie. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he missed her, and he desperately wanted to talk to her.

"Fred, love's not just for girls. Daddy's a boy and he loves Lizzie", Natalie replied.

"Well that's because your Dad's a big girl", he told her, but inside he was screaming.

"_Fartpants loves her?!_", he though to himself, _"How dare he!"_

Wait, why did he even care? What was she doing to him?

"Lizzie! Time to get into bed!"

Fred was pulled out of his thoughts by Mickey's voice calling to Nat.

"Okay Daddy", she called down to him as she got into her bed and snuggled down under the covers.

"Goodnight Fred", she whispered softly, her eyelids drooping.

"Goodnight Nat"

As soon as she was asleep, Fred left. He didn't know why, but he had to go. In a flash of green sparkles, he was outside the Mega Bitch's house. He materialised inside Lizzie's room, but just found an empty bed. Where was she?

Fred decided to try the house she had with Charles, but when he arrived there, there was a For Sale sign on the building, and no furniture inside the house.

"_Damn it, where was she?_", he thought.

Fred eventually gave up and returned home to Natalie, where he too, like Lizzie, fell into a restless sleep. For some reason he too dreamed of the dollhouse, and that painful goodbye. He heard Lizzie call his name, and was walking towards her when he awoke suddenly.

He turned to the clock. Midnight. "Oh Lizzie", he sighed.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lizzie's POV<strong>_

At midnight, something pulled Lizzie out of her sleep. She had seen Fred in her dream and had called out to him. As he was walking towards her, she had woken up.

She sat up in her bed and looked around.

"_Oh Lizzie_"

She heard someone say her name. She could have sworn it was Fred's voice. But it couldn't be, could it?

"I miss you Fred", she said as she drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Fred's POV<strong>_

Fred still lay awake in the armchair, when he heard something.

"_I miss you Fred"_

He could hear those words in his head, as clear as day. That was definitely Lizzie's voice. Was he hearing things? It just sounded so real. First HE missed a GIRL and now he was hearing things? What had gotten into him?

"_I'm just imagining things_", he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and forced himself back into a still restless sleep.

* * *

><p>Fred awoke early the next morning with a smile on his face, and he realised he was thinking about Lizzie. Seriously he had to get over this, it was taking over him.<p>

"_Maybe she'll be coming over again today"_

The thought made him smile and he sighed happily. Then he realised why she would come over if she did, and it would be because of Mickey. His smile instantly turned into a scowl.

"She was mine first", he told himself.

Maybe if she came over today, he would be able to pass on anther message through Natalie. Nat wouldn't be awake for another few hours yet, so he decided to try and get some more sleep. He had a big day ahead of him.

_**Thanks to everything who has been reading this story so far. I hope you are enjoying it! This is my first time writing anything to be honest, and I would love to hear from you guys how you think I'm going, any suggestions you have, criticism, etc. Thanks guys! XD**_


End file.
